One Hand Cooking Episode 5: The Finale!
Illustration by Michelle Lassaline in our book How to Grow a Baby
What, you might be wondering, is the point of this series of cooking meals with one hand? Why, you might be asking yourself, would anyone willingly cook with one hand when cooking with two hands makes more sense and is easier?
Well, first of all, good questions and I ask myself these often. Let me attempt to answer. First, we don’t always have the option of cooking with two hands when we have little babies. Otto, while increasing his independence, is also glued to my side pretty often. So, out of pure necessity One Hand Cooking was born and I decided to try to make lemonade (food and book marketing) out of lemons (his clinginess).
The real impetus behind creating this series was to show that you can still nourish yourself with healthy food when you have children. More than that, I want you to know that you are worthy of eating delicious, nutrient-dense food when you’re considering pregnancy, pregnant, raising a family, or really, just existing in this exhausting world. You’re not just worthy of good food, you are worthy of pleasure. As a complex and intricate human, you deserve your tastebuds to tingle with delight as you close your eyes momentarily to really taste your food.
So often we’re told to eat healthy food, get enough exercise, and take care of ourselves. Part of my goal in writing How to Grow a Baby was to take this off-hand advice and demonstrate how to actually weave it into daily life in a way that is meaningful and sustaining. I cooked with one hand because in doing so I was able to include my children in the process of cooking and thus, in the act of sharing food—which is a form of deep caring. It isn’t always easy, and I don’t always cook with one hand if I can help it (I often suggest everyone go outside while I cook), but it’s good to know we can do hard things.
The other reason for creating this series, I realized, was to show that this season of cooking, or doing almost anything, with one hand is fleeting. While filming episode one, I could barely put Otto down and now, months later, I’m back to using two hands occasionally while he plays. It is a small, yet immensely meaningful, transformation.
One Hand Cooking | 3 Rules
Safety. Sometimes its safety first and sometimes its safety third in our house.
Let go. Dear self, take your own advice, follow this rule, forget it and remember it, hold your breath and then remember to breathe, hold on too tight and then release. It’s all a big cycle anyways.
Accept help. Ok, self, here I go again. Stop being too proud, too stubborn, and too self-righteous to accept help. You want it, you need it and you love it and everyone gets a better version of you when you take care of yourself.
crispy, salty, spicy and sweet roasted butternut squash
1 butternut squash, seeds removed, and sliced thinly
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Olive oil
Sea salt
Ghee
Maple syrup
Heat your oven to 425 degrees F. Slice the squash and place it on a lined or unlined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with sea salt and the cayenne. (I left some of the squash free of cayenne because babies).
Roast until the squash is softened and starting to brown, about 25 minutes. Add a few spoonfuls of ghee and a drizzle of maple syrup, and continue roasting until caramelized, another 10 minutes.
To serve, spoon the squash onto a plate and top with Greek yogurt. This can work as a dessert or side dish and is wonderful served with roasted chicken and fresh green salad.
greek yogurt with cinnamon spiced fried apples
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon ghee (or butter)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 cup organic, full fat, plain Greek yogurt
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ghee and the apples and sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook until the apples are softened and starting to brown, about 8-10 minutes, then drizzle with the maple syrup. Stir, cook for another, 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat.
To serve, spoon the yogurt into a bowl and top with the apples and a little extra cinnamon. Simple. Totally delicious. Add other stuff (granola! toasted coconut! cacao nibs!) as desired. .
crispy fried eggs with charred broccolini, chickpeas and parmesan
1 cup cooked chickpeas (click here for ALL THE WAYS to cook chickpeas)
1 large bunch broccolini or broccoli (or cauliflower!)
2 eggs
Sprinkle of piment d’espellete or cayenne pepper
Olive oil
Sea salt
Grated parmesan cheese
Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high, add a few glugs of olive oil, then toss the broccolini into the skillet. Sprinkle with sea salt and cover until it softens slightly, about 5 minutes. In another skillet, or the same one, toss in the cooked chickpeas. Drizzle with more olive oil and season with plenty of sea salt as well as the piment d’espellete.
Cook the broccolini and chickpeas until charred and slightly crispy. Again, in the same skillet, or a different one, add more olive oil, heat to medium-high, then add the eggs and cook them to your liking. I tossed in fresh parsley with my fried eggs and it was delicious! Season with more salt.
To serve, dish the broccolini and chickpeas onto a plate, top with the eggs, then add a generous heap of freshly grated parmesan cheese. For extra credit, you can add kimchi or sauerkraut, and for extra extra credit, add some salmon roe too (I buy mine from here).
Pub date 9/21/2021!
Finally, after so many years of writing, editing, editing some more (and more), and of Michelle drawing and revising those drawings over and over again, and our team at Roost designing and perfecting the layout, the book is finally going to exist in the real world. I envision it finding its way into parent’s hands. They don’t quite know what to expect, because this book is not What to Expect When You’re Expecting, it’s something totally different. When they open it, I hope they feel like they are breathing in fresh air. Then, what is that? An utterly beautiful illustration to accompany the text?! I hope it delights and surprises and surpasses expectations, but, ultimately, what I hope the most is that it provides empowerment and a sense of awe and importance about the act of growing and raising babies.
Order your copy HERE and please, friends, if you feel compelled, share it widely! Thank you!